Cox taking it slow and easy with Covfefe

By now the news probably is all over Twitter – Covfefe is back at the racetrack following a winter break.

The filly owner Jaime Roth’s LNJ Foxwoods named after a curious tweet posted by President Donald J. Trump turned out to be a good horse – a really good horse. Covfefe won 5 of her 6 starts during 2019, including the Grade 1 Test and the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint. She earned two Eclipse Awards, as champion female sprinter and champion 3-year-old filly, and after some down time at a Florida farm she arrived in Brad Cox’s Fair Grounds string on Jan. 17. Covfefe already had been galloping over a training track before shipping and resumed that activity in New Orleans, Cox said Tuesday.

“She really does look great – moving great right now,” Cox said. “Nothing really at all right now as far as a race. I don’t even know when she’ll breeze yet. Her energy is good, and her weight is good, and we’ll start doing a little more with her in a few weeks.”

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There are Kentucky races this spring that could fit Covfefe’s program – the Madison in April at Keeneland and the Humana Distaff in May at Churchill, both over seven furlongs.

Meanwhile, Cox-trained 3-year-old fillies of 2020 will see stakes action in coming weeks. Tuesday, Cox shipped Taraz from Fair Grounds to Oaklawn, where she’ll start Saturday in the Martha Washington Stakes, her two-turn debut. Taraz impressively won her two starts. On Sunday, British Idiom, 2-year-old filly champion of 2019, turned in a strong five-furlong breeze, going in 1:00.80 in company, as she prepares to make her seasonal debut Feb. 15 at Fair Grounds in the Rachel Alexandra Stakes.

“She’s been working fantastic,” Cox said. “We’re really happy where we are with her. She’ll have another solid five furlongs this week, then something not quite as strong six or seven days out.”

◗ Champion Midnight Bisou worked five furlongs in a bullet 1:00.40 on Tuesday at Fair Grounds as she continues her preparations for an intended start in the $20 million Saudi Cup on Feb. 29.